Sacrifice, and What It Means
By Mabel A. Swanson
Not What We Give, but What We Have Left—Threw Away His Gold, and Saved the Child—Having in Our Lives the Scars of Sacrifice ALL true work for God and man involves sacrifice. This is very evident in the life of any one who lives not to himself alone. The whole life of a true mother is one of continual sacrifice. The successful business man must sacrifice for the sake of his firm. The only possibility for cooperation and union is in the sacrifice of personal preferences or prejudices for the good of all. But it is in the realm of the spiritual that sacrifice finds its truest and fullest meaning. ON THE ALTAR AND THE CROSS
The word “sacrifice” comes from the Latin sacer facere, to make sacred, by putting to the death. The Rev. Samuel M. Zwemer describes it as “a word that is full of blood, a word that we only see in its fullest significance in the Old Testament on the altar and in the New Testament on the cross. As the very heart of the Old Testament teaching was the great altar, and as the heart of the teaching of the New Testament is the cross of Jesus,” so the very name of “Christian” spells sacrifice. The very soul of Christianity is sacrifice, and love is the supreme and only motive that can impel to the sacrifice involved. The essential life-giving power is just the spirit of Jesus, and His was essentially a spirit of supreme self-sacrifice. This was not confined to His death. It was manifested throughout His life. As He unceasingly went about doing good, it meant the pouring out, little by little, of His own life and strength—His spending and being spent for others. It is this same kind of sacrifice that changes mere living into life, that makes all deeds effective. The sacrificial life is born of the abiding principles of love and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in loyalty to Him, in affection for Him, that is found the source of Christian liberality and power. When we begin to know Him, the river of sacrifice begins to flow. GOD’S SACRIFICE IN THE PLAN
In “Christ’s Object Lessons,” page 49, we read the following concerning the source of this river: “The plan of redemption was laid in sacrifice,—a sacrifice so broad and deep and high that it is immeasurable. Christ gave all for us, and those who receive Christ will be ready to sacrifice all for the sake of their Redeemer. . . . If we love Jesus, we shall love to live for Him, to present our thank offerings to Him, to labor for Him. The very labor will be light. For His sake we shall covet pain and toil and sacrifice.” We shall deem it a privilege to present our body a living sacrifice to God. The sacrifice must be whole and complete, for wholeness is demanded in the Master’s service. To do His will must take first place in our lives. We must not give Him merely the spare time. This occasions no sacrifice. Perhaps if we had much spare time, the Master could not use it. But it is the time we cannot easily spare for which He is longing. It is the hour cut out of the vital day, the time taken from what we thought was absolutely essential for our own comfort and welfare, and given to the poor or the needy, that counts. THE FIFTY CENTS WE CAN SPARE
The fifty cents that we can easily spare is no sacrifice. It is the money we cannot spare that bears the marks of Calvary. It is when our giving, whether of money or strength or time, touches the quick, that it becomes vital, and mere existence passes into life. Thus all our offerings have their virtue conditioned by the sacrifice that gave them birth. This is well illustrated in the gift of the widow’s two mites, whence the lesson is clearly taught that if there be sacrifice in the giver, there will be spiritual power in the gift. Christ does not ask, “How much has been given?” but, “How much has been reserved?” for only this latter question brings out the point of importance, namely, as to what each offering really costs its giver. It is not giving any two mites, but giving the last two, that puts us in that widow’s class. In an article entitled “The Real Heart of the Missionary Problem,” in the Missionary Review for September, 1913, Robert H. Glover makes an appeal thus: “Men and women, how much have we really given? Have we cast in out of our abundance, or out of our penury? Are we trying to serve God, satisfy our conscience, and save the heathen, with our spare cash or pin money, or are we measuring up to the New Testament standard, ‘Freely ye have received, freely give’?” LOST HIS GOLD, BUT SAVED THE CHILD
The same writer also tells a story that illustrates clearly true sacrificial giving: “A ship was returning from distant gold fields, when, on nearing port, she suddenly struck a rock and began to sink. The passengers were forced to strike out for themselves and try to reach the shore. One strong man was preparing for the plunge, when a friendless little girl stood before him. ‘Oh, sir,’ she cried, ‘will you save me?’ A struggle was on in that man’s heart. Around his waist was strapped a belt filled with gold. It represented hard toil behind, and pleasures and comfort before him. But there stood the little girl, helpless, pleading.600One thing was sure, he could not save both. Which should it be? “A moment of hesitation, and then with resolute will he loosened the belt and flung it down. ‘Come, little one,’ he responded, ‘hold fast around my neck;’ and with his living burden he plunged into the waves and finally reached the shore. “He lay for a while unconscious after his exhausting effort; but when consciousness returned, and he beheld that little maid bending tenderly over him, and looking with loving gratitude into his face, he thanked God that he had played the man, and had had the courage to save a precious soul even at the cost of his gold.” That man’s decision is thrust upon more than one Christian with whom the great choice is between the selfish use and enjoyment of gift, of gold, of life, and the rescue of precious souls through the sacrifice of these. But when you reach the other shore, saved, by His grace, from the rolling billows, and shall see by your side radiant souls rescued from heathenism by your sacrificing gift and effort, how it will deepen heaven’s joy to you! And you will never cease to thank God for the grace and courage given you to make the sacrifice. This spirit of sacrifice is the highest demand of the Christian life. The scars of Jesus Christ are the test of true discipleship. We must ask ourselves if the scars of Jesus, the print of the nails, the mark of the spear, are imprinted on our aims, on our decisions, on our expenditures, on our ambitions, on our daily habits. The greatest power we can gain is by somewhere, somehow, having in our lives the scars of the Christ. The unoccupied fields of the world are calling for physical sacrifice, for intellectual sacrifice, for sacrifice of ambition, for spiritual sacrifice. This is the power that will yet open all the dark lands. On the mission field, as on the cross of Calvary, the sufferings of the soul are after all, as Dr. Zwemer expresses it, the soul of the suffering. Think of mothers, of children, of homes broken, of home ties stretched and torn asunder, of disappointed hopes, of long agonies and waitings, and hopes deferred, and hearts sick, and you will affirm that the missionary enterprise needs men who can, with Paul, rejoice to make up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ.